Parental leave bill for bereaved passes first stage in Commons

Plans to guarantee parents working a new job immediate parental leave if their partner dies in childbirth have cleared the first hurdle in Parliament.

At present, a surviving partner must have worked for 26 weeks and inform their employer three months in advance to be guaranteed parental leave.

Labour MP Chris Elmore has proposed a new law to close this legal "loophole".

The government said it supported providing unpaid leave for parents not meeting the 26-week threshold.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Elmore said his private members' bill would ensure "more of those left behind have a right to leave in those most horrendous of circumstances".

The Shared Parental Leave and Pay (Bereavement) Bill seeks to give "a day-one right to leave for parents in the most tragic of circumstances" who do not meet the current legal requirement, he said.

Partners must be "guaranteed leave entitlement to process the grief and change in personal circumstances, along with a job to return to when they are able to do so," he added.

"The number of women dying each year during pregnancy or soon after has increased to its highest level in 20 years," Mr Elmore told MPs.

There are 13.41 deaths per 100,000 maternities according to latest figures published by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit - which monitors the causes of maternal deaths, stillbirths and infant deaths.

The government said the bill could help up to 50 people per year, who are denied access to shared parental leave because they have not been in employment long enough.

Aaron Horsey, from Nottingham, found he did not qualify for shared parental leave when his wife, Bernadette, died while giving birth to their son. Tim.

He had recently changed jobs and did not meet continuity of service requirements.

Mr Horsey's new employer agreed to time off, but both had to work hard to understand the law.

"The very fact that I was having to be in those discussions at the same time as looking after Tim and arranging a funeral and being very upset was incredibly difficult", said Mr Horsey.

He wants the law changed in memory of his wife, who has driven his campaigning efforts.

"It is her voice in the back of my head telling me to keep going and get this change made," he said.

The government would support a watered-down version of the bill, removing the pay entitlement for parents who have not worked at a company for 26 weeks, business minister Kevin Hollinrake said.

Mr Hollinrake told MPs no parental leave schemes, including maternity leave, involved employees qualifying for pay from their first day in a new job.

"This is designed to ensure a parent has made a reasonable contribution towards their employer's business before that employer is required to administer statutory parental payments," he said.

MPs approved the bill in their first vote on it. But without government support, private members' bills rarely become law.

The bill would cover England, Scotland and Wales but not Northern Ireland where employment law is devolved.